Rosie Dawson-Hewes, Editor of Bay News. Photo/George Novak
Rosie Dawson-Hewes, Editor of Bay News. Photo/George Novak
I meet a lot of people in this job, from all walks of life.
As I've said before, the variety of people I meet in this role is one of its greatest parts. But this week I had one of the biggest challenges I've ever had as a journalist.
Ihad to interview Poppy Fry, one of the shyest kids I have ever met. Usually when I interview kids, they've won something or are doing something they really love and are so proud of themselves and their achievements that their shyness disappears and they can't wait to tell me all about it. But not with Poppy.
Don't get me wrong, the gorgeous wee dancer who graces our cover this week absolutely loves dancing. She adores it so much that she gets up and practices for an hour before school every day. That is some serious dedication.
The talented seven-yearold also loves Maddie Ziegler, the mini dancer in Sia's music videos. But Poppy didn't tell me that. Her teacher did. Poppy is so shy I struggled to get more than three words at a time out of her. And it's my job to get stories out of people!
But the crazy thing is when it came time for Poppy to show us her moves, I was utterly gobsmacked. It was like a completely different kid.
She turned into this amazing performer, only too happy to hold her leg up by her ear for us, or leap goodness knows how many times so we could get the perfect cover photo. At this point, I got a glimpse into her steely determination.
I came away from that interview, despite its difficulty, inspired. Poppy's resolve to dominate the dancing world was like a shot of adrenalin to the arm. Despite barely saying anything, Poppy taught me not to let anything get in the way of achieving my goals.
